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Aragon-Country Guide
Introduction Aragon starts the game as a Great Power, in possession of Catalonia, Sardinia and Corsica, South Italy, And the coastal provinces of Algeria, as well as Carthago (TTL version of Tunis). They start quite poor at the start, with little industry, but with a decent army. Aragon starts with Catalan, Castilian, and South Italian as accepted cultures, but more can be added later. Forming Aragon-Italy First Moves Right off the bat, your goal is to form Aragon-Italy. This will practically guarantee you a seat at the Great Power table and give you a very healthy industrial and military base to forge an empire out of. To do this, you need to have all Italian nations in your sphere of influence, excluding Venice. Aragon starts of with a few sphered already, and very few powers will attempt to compete for sphering Italy. The only exception is Venice if they become a Great Power, but they usually don't stay a Great Power for long so they can't challenge you. Consider building factories or upgrading existing ones in the Italian states, this will count as foreign investment, which increases your influence gain with the nations you have invested in. Your main rival is going to be the Dual Monarchy. They start with both Genoa and Savoy in their sphere of influence, and they will not let you have them. Even with foreign investments, the AI is ruthless at banning your ambassadors and lowering their opinion of you. As such, the only option will be to take them by force. War with the Dual Monarchy Seeing as the Dual Monarchy has Europe's biggest military at the start, going to war with them is going to be difficult. They also start with an alliance to Spain, forcing Aragon to have a war on two fronts. It is recommended you start this war once you have sphered and allied all the Italian minors. It is also highly recommended to ally Burgundy, as they a tendency to ally Aragon and start off with good relations. This will force the Dual Monarchy to have a war on two fronts as well, and Burgundian armies are more than a challenge for the Anglo-French ones. It is also highly recommended to research some Army techs to get an edge on the monarchy, particularly Army Professionalism, as military tactics and morale are one of the most determining factors of battle in Victoria 2. Best part is, most of the AI doesn't know this, and as such very few nations will research it, especially in the early game. If you have the time, research an artillery tech as well for extra damage. When you are ready, fabricate a "Take from sphere of influence" war goal on the monarchy and go to war. Spain is going to be much weaker than the Dual Monarchy (probably weaker than Aragon too), and the Anglo-French will be busy with Burgundy, so your best course of action is to knock Spain out of the war, then finish off the Dual Monarchy (in a kind of Schlieffen Plan, one that actually works). Make sure to add wargoals to take both Genoa and Savoy from The Monarchy's sphere of influence, maybe even a state if you have infamy room. Afterwards, peace out and proclaim the kingdom of Aragon-Italy! After Forming Aragon-Italy Immediately after, a message will appear saying that you should save and quit, then reload, as forming Aragon-Italy has a tendency to break the game. Do so. As soon as the kingdom is proclaimed, your capital moves to Rome the North Italians will be given autonomy while the Papal States are annexed. The North Italian states will be annexed into Milan, who will become your vassal. To end their autonomy a decision must be taken which requires Aragon-Italy to be at least Great Power #4. Merely forming Aragon-Italy should give you enough prestige and military that you will be there already. Take the decision as fast as possible, so that Milan doesn't have time to prepare any troops and the ensuing war of annexation against them will be easy. After annexing the North Italians, you will gain a decision to add North Italian as an accepted culture group. It requires Nationalism and Imperialism and Great Power #4. Taking this decision will raise the militancy of Catalan and especially Castilian populations, but it's temporary and nothing you can't handle. Afterward, you will get a decision that gives you cores on all Italian Venetian lands. Venice will be an easy target, especially if they aren't in anyone's sphere, which is likely. Keep in mind that taking Venetia will requite 100 warscore, so the annexation process will be slower. After taking Venetia, you will get a decision that allows you to add Venetian as an accepted culture. No unhappy populations this time! And finally, after having all of Aragon-Italy's cores in your possession and still being Great Power #4 or higher, you will gain the Decision to "Proclaim the Latin Empire", which will grant you cores on the entire western Mediterranean coastline. This is the last decision in Aragon's decision chain. North Africa At first it might be tempting to use your infamy on the Maghreb and the Hafsid Kingdom, but that is not necessary. For the Hafsids, you will eventually gain an event that gives you an annexation causus beli on them for 5 infamy. As for the Magreb, they will eventually revolt, taking colonial states such as Tunisia outright and declaring war on both you and Spain. The challenge of the Maghreb revolt is to annex the Maghreb before Spain does. Overtime, after sieging out a few provinces you will get "The Arabs retreat!" events that will grant you the provinces you sieged out, no peace required. So even if Spain does annex the Maghreb, you still get something. After the revolt is over, an event will pop up saying that Spain is willing to trade landlocked provinces. This is to fix the bordergore that may have been caused by the "The Arabs retreat!"events. If Spain gets Tunisia or one of your other former colonies, don't fret. You will get cores on them when you Proclaim the Latin Empire, so seizing them will be simple.